Friday, June 29, 2007

Traditions Acadiennes...


My dad`s Farm - Rue Vienneau
Originally uploaded by Acadieman
I quabled today with the choice of writting this blog entry in French or English. And I wondered, what would be the Acadian way of handling this choice, that would show the openess and friendlyness typically demonstrated by Acadians towards Englsih-Canada. Then the choice was obvious.

That would be my first Acadian Tradition to discuss. We love speaking English. We really do. We bask in the fact that we understand what goes on EVERYWHERE IN this country. And that we will never fully understand why seperatists in Québec are so upset. We got a much crappier deal than they did. But in Acadian fashion, we found a way to accept English reality of Canada and melt it with our Acadian one. Its makes us Canadian. Which I am first and foremost.

That openess translated to everything we did on a daily basis. There was a rule in our house. Never ever refuse someone over for diner. Therefore there should always be enough food to go around if someone showed up, and there had to be enough for them to have seconds, if they so wanted. My friends would love to come over for spaghetti. It was a spahetti festival, with meatballs, parmsean cheese, hot spices, and mushrooms. We knew, certain mothers were dying for the recipe. They never got it.

If you were lucky enough to be at the Robichaud table, you would have witnessed a dining ceremony unlike any other. Meal time was a serious affaire. No T.V. in the dinning room. An affaire so important, it got its own room. The oldest sitting opposit of the Father at the head of the table. The mother with the two youngest, the the two other boys on the opposite side of the mother. Guest would sit next to the family member whom had invited them. Sometimes there would be vary many.

Converstation was manditory. No subject was too bold or taboo for the table, no matter how uncomfotable our poor dad felt. My mother would haved discused the pros and cons of oral sex if we had asked. We didn`t, we were scared she might actually take a banana and saran wrap out of the kitchen.

The best meal time, was when there was brocoli cheese casserole on the menu. We would litteray fight over brocoli. But not just brocoli, turnips! Liver! We would eat it really quickly to get another serving. It was just that good.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Watering Children 0410


IMG_0410
Originally uploaded by Acadieman
Some of you might be a little surprised when you read this posting. Others might think I have completely gone off the deep end. But, today was a grandiose day in the life of Gabriel Robichaud.

This morning, I drove to Dawson College, parked my car on de Maisonneuve street, walked into the college through the main entrance, marched straight forward about 150 meters, turned right, then walked another 50 meters or so, and inserted my application into the Registrar's mail box. There was something eerie about the whole process. First of all, it was about 7:45 am, so there was no one around. Empty halls. Echoing footsteps. Then the swoosh of the the letter sliding in the mail slot and sudden thump as it hit the bottom of the empty mail box, followed by a long sigh of relief. And my grimace turned to a wide grin. I knew I had done something good for myself, my hapiness and my future: my application to Dawson College's Commercial Photography Program for the fall term is complete and submitted to the powers at be.

Wow. I felt so happy after that. But that lasted about 10 seconds. I then realised my faith rested in the hands of academia. So, if you are christian, light a candle say a prayer in my honour. For the less christian, take out your prayer matts, put on your yamachas, or even burn insents or just plain cross your fingers, beacause I really REALLY want this.

So... There is a picture to talk about today as well. I watched these kids play in the water at Parc Jean-Drapeau for a good 10 minutes. They were having such a great time. I felt like joining in and running through the fountains myself, but that would have been weird. We had a great day with Diane, Gilles, Marie and Camille. I had not realised just how nice of a place it is. Filled with photo ops. I will be returning, for sure!!

Monday, June 25, 2007

A day on Mount Royal 0128


IMG_0128
Originally uploaded by Acadieman
Today I received the visit of my good friends Diane and Gilles from Moncton, NB. I am very to happy to spend some time with them and its a joy to see how radiant Diane is in her 2nd trimester.

We had diner at Frites Alors on St-Laurent Bld and then headed on to Mount Royal to take in a stroll and a nice view of the city. A must for any tourist, really.

At beaver lake I spotted this man sitting by himself, and thanks to my telephoto lens, manage to get this great shot without getting to close. I can't help but wonder: "What is he thinking?"

Thursday, June 21, 2007

International Fireworks Competition

Argh.

I have been waiting for the fireworks competition with bated breath. Yes I have. Not because I find fireworks particularly interesting. They are.

Mostly, I have been filled with anticipation because of the technical challenge that it would present from the perspective of my DSLR. Well, I'm not too impressed with the results. OK OK, so its my first kick at the can, and these photos ended up being more technical than your usual night photography.

I need to get my hands on a remote shutter release. However, I did manage to take a few pictures that are worth sharing, so feel free to click on the image on check out the flickr page... I promise i will do better next week. Thank god this competition runs until the end of July!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Montreal Construction


IMG_9557
Mise en ligne par Acadieman
Yet another photo of a crane. I just can`t help myself. These monsters are just too intriguing not to photograph. Look at the coulour, the lines the lighting.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Montreal Construction

I have developped some weird fascination with construction, particularly cranes. These things are huge. I think they make for such interesting subject matter when it comes to photography. The lines are interesting and the background, usually the sky, is always a source of inspiration. This particular photo was taken in the Old Port of Montreal. I love cranes. I really really do.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Naked Bike Ride


Naked Bike Ride_9248
Originally uploaded by Acadieman
After 11 years of living in Montreal, you get used to seeing, well, pretty much anything. But once in a while, this city manages to find another way to amuse me, like no other city can.

Yesturday, while sipping my coffee on a balcony in the every so trendy Plateau, our view was assaulted by a bunch of NAKED cyclist.. This is why you should never leave home without your camera: you never know what you will see! They went by so fast, it was hard to get a decent shot, and the lighting was only good on the back side (ha!) You don't miss much from the front, trust me.

People back home always ask me if I will ever move back to the Maritimes. Just take one look at this photo. The answer is no. I wonder what the reaction would be in Cap-Pelé if a couple hundred of us decided to ride through main street naked on our bikes.

They are planning on making this bike ride an annual thing. Next year, I will scope out a better location and plan my photo session better. hehe.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Fontaine - Old Montreal


Fontaine - Old Montreal
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.
It has been a while.

Good lord. Work is a little crazy, so I have not really had time to work on my photos. I have a couple thousand photos that I need to weed through and select some stuff for the blog and flickr. But this photo I took to fill the requirements of my photography class.

I am pretty happy with it. But I am always suprised by what actually catches the professor's eye. This one, is probably one of the photos he liked the most out of all the ones I have submitted. And truth be told, I almost did not submit this photo, because I did not like it that much.

But it got such a warm reception by the class and the teacher, that now, I kinda like it. LOL. I think I am going to rework it in photoshop, I have some ideas to make it even better.